Behind the Cup: Where Quality Begins

How We Assess Green Coffee Before It Ever Makes the Cut 

Before a coffee ever arrives at Jim’s Organic Coffee, it has to pass an important first test: Do we actually like it?

It may sound simple, but evaluating green coffee is one of the most important steps in our quality control process. Before we commit to purchasing a coffee, we need to understand how it tastes and whether it meets the standards we have established for Jim’s Organic Coffee.

When we are considering a new coffee, we typically receive a small green coffee sample, between 200 and 300 grams. Green coffee refers to coffee beans before they have been roasted. These samples allow us to evaluate the coffee before making a purchasing decision.

The sample is roasted on our sample roaster and then cupped by Jim and Sam.

The sample roaster is a one-pound small batch roaster called The San Franciscan. We use this roaster to roast any samples we’re looking to evaluate prior to making larger purchasing decisions (such as offers, pre-shipment and arrival samples).

Stella, our Probat G120, is a 120 kg (or about 264 lbs) is a large-batch commercial roaster. This roaster is made for high-volume commercial roasting and is used for our daily production.

The sample roaster almost acts as a test kitchen, as we’re able to roast, cup and evaluate coffees without wasting large amounts of green coffee. This gives us an opportunity to get a better understanding of the coffee before it moves into a larger production environment.

In short, the sample roaster allows us to make informed purchasing and quality decisions on a very small scale, while Stella is where those coffees are ultimately roasted in the larger volumes needed for production.

Cupping is a standardized method of tasting coffee that allows us to closely evaluate its aroma, flavor, body, acidity, and overall character. It gives us the opportunity to understand what is truly inside each lot of coffee before it ever becomes part of our lineup. Learn more about cupping here.

We're looking for more than just a coffee that tastes good.

We are looking for a coffee that meets the expectations we have for Jim's Organic Coffee.

Every coffee is different. Origin, variety, processing, growing conditions, and harvest can all influence the final cup. A coffee may be excellent on its own but still not be the right fit for what we are trying to achieve.

That is why tasting is never an afterthought. It is the starting point.

If a coffee does not meet our expectations at this stage, we simply do not move forward with it. But if it does make the cut, the next stage begins: learning more about exactly where that coffee came from and how it was produced. Because for us, quality isn’t determined by flavor alone.